Day Seven
It's been a big few days. Our first time together as a full team was breakfast on Sunday in Mexico City, where we planned our first team assault: Walmart.
Can you find Dale?
Mexico City is huge, and so is the MC Walmart.
On Monday we climbed 14,500 foot La Malinche.
It was a 4,500 foot ascent over 4 miles, through pine forests, bunch grass alpine and a final rock scramble to the summit, where we met 3 dogs among other happy summiteers. Our team of six each arrived at the summit at different times—as a practice climb, we were each exploring our own best pace. Everyone performed well on La Malinche, enough to dial in our expectations for Pico.
From La Malinche we (Dale) drove straight to our logistical base in the town of Tlachichuca, at 8,500 feet.
We met a team here in Tlach that will be summiting on Thursday just like us. They are from Colorado and Utah and they headed out in the 4x4 this morning, so we saw the whole routine we will follow tomorrow morning when we climb into the rig and are driven to base camp at Refugio Piedra Grande, at about 14,000 elevation. We'll see them up there.
Today, we are just lounging around, looking at town, eating and breathing the thin air. At some point we'll start sorting gear--what goes up and what stays back, now that we know what the climbing conditions will be.
Have you met the team?
There are six of us.
Paige Olson is a student at Western Washington University studying Recreation Management. As usual, everyone here is a friend of Paige. She's what we have in common. Paige is a CAL trustee.
Evan Redman is also a student at WWU. He grew up in the shadow of Mt. Rainier and guides there during the summer. In school he is studying Geographic Information Science (he's a map guy).
Frances Steelquist directs the Outdoor Adventure program at Boston College.
Ian Bellows gigs as a backcountry ranger at Mt. Rainier National Park and is a cultural geographer.
Our two gray hairs are CAL trustees Mark Steelquist and Dale Rae. Dale drives the van, and Mark seems to mostly be talking.
If I may say so, we are a strong, equanimous, competent bunch, each making unique contributions.
I'll close off by noting that all our hopes about the climbing culture of Mexico have been met. It's a warm, friendly vibe, with lots of smiles and gratitude for sharing this wonderful landscape and the people who make it their home. It's a heart lifting experience to be here, and next time, you should come with us!
~Mark
Follow the trip: https://share.garmin.com/dalerae
